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Cannes, France

The Regency architecture is as smart and elegant as the natives; shop for swish brands on Rue d’Antibes, or try the old town, aka Le Suquet, for foodie and gift shops. Sip some rosé, nibble on a salade Niçoise, sashay up and down La Croisette (no poodle required), where every hotel has its own beach: if anywhere allows you to star in your own movie, this is it.

Smith Extra on arrival

Smith24

Getting there

Planes

EasyJet flies to Nice (half an hour to Cannes by taxi, about €80) from Gatwick, Stansted, Luton, Bristol, Liverpool, Newcastle and Belfast. British Airways also serves Nice, and British Midlands flies there from Nottingham. Nice Helicoptères (+33 (0)4 93 21 34 32) charges about €135 plus tax per person for a return trip from Nice to Cannes.

Trains

The TGV from Paris to Cannes takes five and a half hours; you must reserve seats. Useful railway websites: www.sncf.com; www.tgv.com; www.eurostar.com. Train services along the coast are good.

Automobiles

Spinning along by the sea between Antibes and Juan-les-Pins may be an essential element of the Riviera fantasy but, in reality, the coastal road can get a bit congested around the summer bank holidays, and driving within Cannes itself is a no-no, with fiendish one-ways, and bans during the film festival and big conferences.